According to experts, MICE group visitors create a global market of 1,300 billion USD each year, making this tourist stream a "gold mine" for many destinations.
MICE stands for Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions, referring to the travel group that combines meetings, incentives, conferences, seminars and exhibitions. MICE visitors often travel in groups and simultaneously use many services such as aviation, accommodation, transportation, conferences, cuisine and entertainment.
Data from the Events Industry Council (EIC) and the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) show that there are about 1.65 billion people attending business events worldwide, generating $1,300 billion in direct spending. The trade exhibition segment alone contributes about 180 billion USD.
MICE visitors spend on average 3-6 times more than regular visitors, stay for a long time and impact many services. Mr. Noor Ahmad Hamid, CEO of PATA, said the high level of spending (an average of 85 USD per trip) makes MICE a segment that many developing economies want to exploit.
At the High-Level Tourism Forum within the framework of the 20th Ho Chi Minh City International Tourism Fair (ITE HCMC 2026) on August 27, Deputy Prime Minister Pham Thi Thanh Tra said that MICE needs to be positioned as a strategic product of Vietnamese tourism, targeting high-quality tourist flows, creating motivation for trade and investment in the context of developing tourism into a key economic sector.
Domestic travel and hotel businesses recognize the value of MICE in its ability to generate revenue from many services at the same time. Ms. Tran Thi Bao Thu, Marketing and Communications Director of Vietluxtour, said that MICE is a total solution combining communication, events and budget optimization for businesses.
"Enterprises identify MICE as a key strategic axis, a measure of organizational capacity, financial potential and brand reputation," she said, stating that Korea and India currently contribute the largest number of MICE visitors, with the most impressive growth at the enterprise.
For hotels, MICE benefits go beyond room fees. Ms. Mandy Tran, Sales Director of Vinpearl Landmark 81 Hotel, Autograph Collection in Ho Chi Minh City, said MICE groups help fill rooms during the low season of international visitors, such as the Indian market, which often has large groups from May to August, while also generating revenue from parties, conferences, cuisine, space rental, equipment, spa and transportation.
The 90-day e-visa policy and the expansion of direct international flights are creating more momentum for this segment. However, Vietnam is competing with regional destinations that already have developed MICE ecosystems - such as Thailand, where the MICE industry generates an estimated total economic impact of 338 billion baht (US$10 billion) in 2025, according to the Thai Exhibition and Convention Promotion Bureau (TCEB).
According to Ms. Thu, the biggest difficulty when welcoming MICE guests is the lack of uniform infrastructure, few convention centers that can serve 2,000-3,000 guests at the same time, traffic congestion and lack of night entertainment products of sufficient caliber. Mr. David Mann, Mastercard's Asia-Pacific Chief Economist, said that the advantage of leading MICE destinations such as Singapore or Hong Kong is not only in the scale of infrastructure but also in connectivity and convenience for tourists.
According to Mr. Noor, infrastructure needs to go along with destination organization and positioning. Thailand has a specialized agency TCEB with the "Change That Matters" strategy, continuously hosting global-scale events. The 2026 IMF/World Bank Group Annual Conference in Bangkok is expected to gather 18,000 delegates from 200 countries. In Melbourne, the MICE ecosystem is linked to innovation and biomedical areas such as the University of Melbourne, the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, and the Royal Melbourne Hospital, helping MICE events contribute more than AUD 10 billion each year to Victoria.
The common point of these places is that there is a specialized agency in charge of promoting conferences, acting as a focal point for bidding to host and connecting the supply chain. Mr. Noor believes that Vietnam should establish a specialized Conference Promotion Department or Committee to act as a focal point for infrastructure planning and international branding.
Vietluxtour representatives proposed three solutions: simplify and digitize visa procedures and prioritize entry for large MICE groups; apply the "one-stop shop" mechanism in event licensing; and build a national or local MICE bidding support fund to increase advantages when competing for the right to host international events.
"This will be a strategic push to re-plan infrastructure, build an international brand and make Vietnam the leading MICE center in Asia in the next decade," he said.
